Where to put your router (and five places not to)
The free fix nobody mentions. Moving your router by two metres often does more than any gadget you can buy.
Updated 19 June 2026 · about 4 minutes to read
Routers get installed wherever the engineer found a socket, which is almost always by the front door, near the floor, in a cupboard. That is the worst place in the house for radio, and it is free to change.
The rules that actually matter
Wi-Fi spreads outwards and downwards from the router, and it is absorbed by anything dense or wet — walls, water tanks, radiators, mirrors, fish tanks and, yes, people.
- As central in the house as you can manage.
- Waist height or higher — on a shelf, not on the floor.
- Out in the open air, never inside a cupboard or a media cabinet.
- At least a metre from the TV, microwave and cordless phone base.
- Aerials upright if it has them, unless the manual says otherwise.
Five places to avoid
Every one of these is common, and every one costs you coverage.
- In the hall cupboard with the coats.
- On the floor behind the sofa.
- Directly behind or under the television.
- In the kitchen next to the microwave.
- In a metal media unit with a glass door.
If the socket is in the wrong place
You do not have to leave the router where the cable enters. A flat Ethernet cable run along the skirting board to a better spot is inexpensive and gives a far better result than any wireless extender. Your provider can also often move the entry point if you ask.
In short
- ✓ Central, high, and out in the open beats every gadget.
- ✓ Cupboards, floors and TVs are the three big coverage killers.
- ✓ A cheap cable to a better spot beats a wireless extender.